Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The basic income for the arts is a once-in-a-generation policy intervention that has the potential to transform the lives of artists. The scheme is part of a suite of measures I have introduced to support professional arts practice, including record funding of €134 million for the Arts Council, increased funding for Screen Ireland, the highest level of funding for Culture Ireland since its establishment, a new pilot capital support scheme for arts, culture and the night-time economy, and increased funding for Creative Ireland.

The basic income for the arts is accompanied by a three-year research programme, which started in October 2022 and will continue until the end of the pilot in 2025. The primary objective of this data collection is to capture a wide range of information related to artists' demographics, income sources, spending habits, financial well-being, work and job quality, perceptions of the arts sector, time use, health and well-being, and experiences of discrimination. The research programme is a unique opportunity to gather data on the sector that we did not have before. In researching impacts on recipients and on the ecology of the arts, this pilot scheme has the potential to change the landscape of the arts and how we fund them. It will help us to make further progress towards a more evidence-based approach to funding for the arts and to tell a story about the sector based to a greater extent on data.

While I am optimistic that the basic income payment is having a positive impact on those receiving it, I am cognisant of the data that is emerging about the difficult conditions that artists find themselves in more generally. Therefore, I have instructed my officials to organise a status of the artist conference that will focus on income and working conditions in the arts. The conference will take place next month in Dublin.

Once the research on the basic income for the arts is finalised, the Government will be in a position to assess the programme. The evidence that is derived from this scheme will form the basis for the development and implementation of new guidelines and Government policy. My officials are working on a further report that will analyse the first year of the pilot, which is scheduled to be published in quarter 2.

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